Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Thread #2

[IcyDeadPeople]

Continuing from the previous thread ...

 

Just wanted to share a mod I've been working on for the past few months. Finally finished it and if anyone has some feedback or suggestions for improvement, I'd love to hear them.

 

It's a mod which aims to enhance the fun and usefulness of some of the less popular shouts. Also it adds two new quests to the game, which allow the player to craft a magic talisman you can give to your follower to protect them from the harmful effects of your Thu'um.

 

Shout-Tastic! - Nexus Page

Shout-Tastic! - Steam Workshop Page

Edited November 20, 2012 by IcyDeadPeople

[HoonDing]

I should finish my recent Bloodmoon playthrough to get ready for Dragonborn.

 

I expect Solstheim to be remade in Skyrim engine in meticulous detail.

[WDeranged]

I'm slowly nibbling my way through Morrowind but I keep getting distracted, I recently downloaded the DDS Photoshop plugin so I can fine tune textures rather than endlessly searching though mods for alternatives, I'm sticking really close to the vanilla look and tone, just with higher resolution textures.

 

I won't bother with Skyrim till all the DLC is done and dusted but I'm still quite excited about Dragonborn, that comes with the usual Bethesda concerns though

[WDeranged]

Sounds like Dragonborn is being well recieved by fans and critics, some are even saying it beats Shivering Isles, I'll be surprised if it really does but I'm glad that people are liking it.

[AGX-17]

Sounds like Dragonborn is being well recieved by fans and critics, some are even saying it beats Shivering Isles, I'll be surprised if it really does but I'm glad that people are liking it.

 

Unless it makes the boring, tedious combat un-boring, or has super-interesting dungeons, it's not even worth looking at for me. Bethesda's not exactly a think tank of the game industry's best writers (a given,) so story isn't particularly interesting, either.

 

"There's another dragonborn! You cannot tolerate this insult to your special unique snowflakeyness! Go kill him! THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! Eh? EH? GET IT? HIGHLANDER REFERENCE YOU CAN MAKE THAT A MEME, TOO, GUYS! Make sure to tell your friends about this new hilarious Skyrim™ meme!"

Edited December 5, 2012 by AGX-17

[WDeranged]

So what you're saying is that unless Dragonborn changes Skyrim into a totally different game you're not interested...well then

[AGX-17]

So what you're saying is that unless Dragonborn changes Skyrim into a totally different game you're not interested...well then

 

So you haven't played Skyrim but you already agree that the combat is boring, the dungeons are repetitive and bland, and the writing is mediocre at best?

Edited December 5, 2012 by AGX-17

[WDeranged]

I played an unhealthy amount of Skyrim so I'm waiting for all the DLC to come out before I go back to it, the combat is ok, the dungeons are repetitive but certainly not bland and the writing is decent if mostly uninspired...I still like the game though, I'm just glad for a DLC which apparently doesn't lower the standard.

[AGX-17]

I played an unhealthy amount of Skyrim so I'm waiting for all the DLC to come out before I go back to it, the combat is ok, the dungeons are repetitive but certainly not bland and the writing is decent if mostly uninspired...I still like the game though, I'm just glad for a DLC which apparently doesn't lower the standard.

 

And don't get me wrong, I liked the game for the first 60-odd hours. Then I played the thieves' guild questline and delved a few dungeons too many and found myself with a sudden bout of "why is this going to be named GOTY?-itis"

 

Honestly, the gameplay is really what needs the most work. If the combat was truly fun, everything else would be excusable. Example: Zone of the Enders. Bland stereotypical anime storyline and characters, amazing combat/gameplay. Ok, ZOE also had great graphics and audio, too (not to mention that MGS2 demo disc.) But still, at the end of the day, gameplay trumps everything else if you can't write better than a middle school creative writing assignment.

Edited December 6, 2012 by AGX-17

[HoonDing]

The world will end before I play Dragonborne.

[Nordicus]

Example: Zone of the Enders. Bland stereotypical anime storyline and characters, amazing combat/gameplay.

Eeh, hardly. I'd much rather call Zone of Enders 1 a tech demo than a game, since even the gameplay is horrendous.

 

You've got:

- little to no enemy variety*, and later in the game you just fight enemies with buffed up stats. YAY

- each enemy is an uninteresting one-trick pony*

- the missions are either "find a needle in the haystack" or "kill everyone in the area"

- the combat itself is extremely simple (circle strafing pewpewpew or shoving a sword in their face) and stays that way from beginning to end despite the handful of secondary moves you learn along the way*

- bland level design

- a combination of the novelty of each (I think 3 total) enemies fading in 1-2 fights and the game duration of around 6 hours

 

*with the exception of bossfights, the only half-decent part of the game.

Edited December 6, 2012 by Nordicus

[DungeonKeeps]

Will Dragonborn feature the whole island of Morrowind? Or Just Solstheim?

 

Since we've got plenty of snow in Skyrim, I think it's time to move on a different type of terrain.

[entrerix]

i remember zone of the enders, that game was ok, certainly not good enough to warrant a fancy re-release though. why no fancy re-release for The Bouncer?

[Humanoid]

Will Dragonborn feature the whole island of Morrowind? Or Just Solstheim?

 

Since we've got plenty of snow in Skyrim, I think it's time to move on a different type of terrain.

 

I think in the official timeline the island of Morrowind is destroyed? Doing a post-apocalyptic Morrowind setting might infringe on their other main title.

[Nordicus]

Doing a post-apocalyptic Morrowind setting might infringe on their other main title.

Only if they're still eating 200-year-old sweetroll

[IcyDeadPeople]

I should finish my recent Bloodmoon playthrough to get ready for Dragonborn.

 

 

I need to get started as well, probably about 30 days left before Dragonborn is available for PC. I have the Morrowind GOTY version including Bloodmoon but so far I've only played a few hours of Morrowind in total, just up to the point where you meet Caius Cosades.

[AGX-17]

i remember zone of the enders, that game was ok, certainly not good enough to warrant a fancy re-release though. why no fancy re-release for The Bouncer?

 

http://www.metacriti...n-2/the-bouncer

 

http://www.metacriti...-the-2nd-runner

 

That's why.

 

Actually it's because aside from being better games (the HD ZOE collection is more about Anubis/The 2nd Runner than the original game,) ZOE has both a sizable fanbase and Hideo Kojima wants to do a 3rd game in the series, whereas The Bouncer has no fanbase and Square-Enix has no desire to make a sequel to it.

 

Will Dragonborn feature the whole island of Morrowind? Or Just Solstheim?

 

Since we've got plenty of snow in Skyrim, I think it's time to move on a different type of terrain.

 

...Morrowind isn't an island, it's a province; Vvardenfell is the island portion of Morrowind. And it's just Solstheim in this DLC, not any of Morrowind (Solstheim is not part of any province.)

Edited December 7, 2012 by AGX-17

[Azure79]

Skyrim was fun. I thought I wouldn't like it since I quickly grew bored of Morrowind and Oblivion, but Skyrim managed to pull me in. I think its 80% due to the music. I love the main theme.

 

I thought the world was very well realized and they finally managed to get people to not look horrible. I didn't expect much from the main quest line, but several parts were interesting. Faction quests were good as well. My favorite was the Thieves Guild.

 

Is it just me, or did Bethesda get a little better with the storytelling part after working with Obsidian in New Vegas. I can't really say much about Morrowind or Oblivion since I never advanced much in the main quest, but I thought Fallout 3's world was big but boring and I much prefer New Vegas. Skyrim actually surprised me at certain parts of the game.

[Humanoid]

Might be just you given how generally reviled the Thieves' Guild part of the game is - probably the most disliked writing of the game in general for a lot of folks.

 

 

That said, I did enjoy it enough to say it's probably the most enjoyment out of a Bethesda-developed game that I've had, and although I didn't have the desire to finish it in the end, I can comfortably say it was worth the money.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Humanoid

[Azure79]

I didn't know that questline was so disliked. I thought the final battle with Mercer was pretty good in that cavern with the rising water. I don't really remember the specifics, but I remember I liked playing through it.

[Starwars]

Personally I didn't like it because... you don't need to be Thief-like in the least to play through it. Plus, it's not hard to see the "plot-twist" in the actual story of it, and of course, you are powerless to act upon it in any way until the story decides it's time to do so.

[HoonDing]

That quest where you had to accompany the supposed master thief Mercer was embarassing. He tripped every trap in the dungeon and alarmed every single Draugr. At least with the other two there weren't such issues.

 

But the quest where you needed to steal from the Dwemer scholar was quite good; using traps against guards, etc.

[WDeranged]

Most of Skyrim's major questlines sputter out a bit, I really don't know how they did it, in my opinion the set up was really good, embarking on all these quests felt great but the pay off rarely matched the hype, I could forgive the plot missteps if the Thieves Guild was more thiefy and the Mages College was more magey and so on. Oblivion's TG quest was actually pretty damn epic and is a contender for my favourite thieving memories in any game, Mages Guild not so much but it did have some really amusing parts, best to forget about the whole Mannimarco joke at the end though

 

Morrowind's guilds kinda suck, most of the quests kinda suck when you get right down to it, people who think Skyrim is just a giant fetch/kill quest have short memories, the difference with Morrowind in my opinion is that the world (and game) is a genuine puzzle, a beautiful conflicted mess with several ways to get stuff done.

[HoonDing]

Dark Brotherhood is only decent Oblivion questline, imo.

 

Problem with guild questlines in Oblivion and Skyrim is that they're completely separated from the world and overall storyline (happening in a vacuum), unlike Morrowind.

Edited December 8, 2012 by Drudanae

[Starwars]

On the whole, I vastly prefer Skyrim to Oblivion but I must say that I generally found the DB and TG questlines a lot more enjoyable in Oblivion. Especially the TG one.